For teens, it's a wired world

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, May 10, 2008

This is a whole new technological age and young people know how to use it.

Brady Eggleston, a 15-year-old sophomore at Newtown High School, uses her iPod's iHome speakers to wake her for school in the morning. The music depends on her activities the night before.

"If I've been up late doing an essay, I need a faster song to wake me up, something upbeat," Brady says.

Oftentimes the music is the rock group Aerosmith for Brady.

For 16-year-old Andrew Nichols, however, the music is likely to be a Broadway show tune that comes from his laptop computer. "The laptop is my alarm in the morning."

Most teens appear to be comfortable with the many technological gadgets that were developed in recent years -- from cell phones to digital cameras to laptop computers to iPods and video games.

Some adolescents embrace the technology more than others who limit their use -- either because of personal preference, parental dictates or a little of both. Brady doesn't use her cell phone often and shares a computer at home with other family members.

Andrew, also a Newtown High School sophomore, "loves technology." He regularly uses his cell phone, including its text message function, and carries his laptop computer with him.

Both are good students who say they know when to shut off all the bells and whistles if they need to concentrate on homework that requires their complete attention. They also say that while the gadgets may cut down some on social interaction, they also provide other forms of social contact, especially through the social networking site Facebook.

But the jury is still out on whether all the wiring of today's teens will prove beneficial to their academic, social and work life in the long run.

Brady's mother, as well as Andrew's mom, see the benefits of technology for their children; cell phones can keep parents and kids in touch, the Internet can provide abundant research data, and computer graphics can enhance homework projects. But they also keep an eye on technology's downside, including making sure their children stay safe online.

An area high school principal and a licensed social worker, whose specialty is adolescent development, both see the new technology as a mixed bag that can enhance as well as limit a teen's life.

In general, though, adults take for granted that the technology is here to stay and they must learn to work it safely and positively into the lives of young people.

Children today, Cosentino said, appear to have a need to be engaged constantly. "All these devices," she said, from cell phones with text messaging to online sites such as Facebook, deliver information quickly.

"As educators, we have to try to make our lessons engaging," Cosentino said.

Still, she added, "not everything in life is immediate. Sometimes we need that depth and breath."

Teachers "have to use that balance," Cosentino said. "They must make good use of the technology teens love but also show them "there are times when they have to work with groups," times when they must engage in discussions, times when they have to sit quietly and read a book.

"It can't just be technology," Cosentino said.

Brady, the Newtown sophomore, said "I know when enough is enough," about the time she spends online. She monitors herself on the computer but so does her mother, Kathy Mayer, who Brady says will sometimes tell her "you need to get off."

Mayer wants to make sure Brady isn't substituting the technical gadgetry for living. She doesn't want Brady to do what she fears other young people are doing -- "to pretend to experience life rather than really experience it."

That desire for Brady to live life and the desire to keep Brady safe meant Mayer put several restrictions on technology. Brady didn't have a cell phone until recently and isn't allowed to use it for text messaging.

The cell phone, Mayer said, is mainly to keep in touch with her parents for after-school activities. At home Mayer wants Brady to use the land line.

With a cell phone, Mayer said, parents don't know who their children's friends are because "they don't call the house anymore."

Andrew uses his cell phone often to make calls and get them, both from friends and his parents and relatives.

But not his grandmother. "If my grandmother is calling me, she uses the land line. But if I call her I use the cell phone because she is on my speed dial and it's much faster."

Andrew's mother, Patti Nichols, says the cell phone helps keep her son in touch, especially when he's away on one of his trips as a singer with the school or church.

Andrew will sometimes text message her, however, and that's less satisfying than listening to the nuances of his speech. "You want to hear his voice to make sure he's OK."

Nichols is comfortable with her son's safety on the Internet site Facebook. "I'm not so much concerned. He gives me his passwords so I can check."

Socializing in this new world of technology appears to have taken a different twist.

Even while Nichols is working from home on her computer, she can still spend time with her son, for instance. Andrew will join her in the same room and work on his laptop. They even instant message at times.

But how about the iPods that appear to tune out the world from people who are plugged in?

Andrew doesn't use his iPod in school but he does on car trips or on a plane. "For traveling time it's great to listen to when you're bored," Andrew says.

Yes, Andrew says, the iPod "cuts in somewhat" to socializing but it can lead to another form of getting together. "Two people can plug into one iPod," he says by sharing what's called "ear buds."

And homework? Brady said she'll listen to music or books on tape on her iPod when she's running but will only put the ear plugs in for homework that is easy. "I'm very good at math," Brady says, adding she listens to her music if she's doing simple worksheets or punching numbers into the computer for homework.

When Brady has to read or write though, she won't put on the iPod. "It can be very distracting and I'll start typing in the lyrics."

Andrew's reaction was similar. Music lyrics, he said, would be too distracting.

Another distraction, Andrew said, can be the pop-up messages, like those from Facebook, that show up when he's doing a homework assignment. That's why Andrew downloaded a program called "Think." "It shows me my essay and blacks out everything else."

Jones, a licensed clinical social worker, said distraction is not limited to teenagers. He teaches graduate courses at Fordham University where students "think nothing of taking a cell phone call" during a class.

Parents who are in therapy sessions with Jones also will answer a cell phone during sessions. "It waters down whatever people are doing at the moment," and gives that moment in life a "back seat" to the cell phone call.

While Jones is "not downplaying the benefits of technology," he questions the effect on people. The use of text messaging, for instance, "makes communication more anonymous" and allows users to say things that could be more provocative or threatening than if they were face to face.

Technology, Jones said, can keep the users engaged in an activity -- something that can be helpful for teens who often speak "about a sense of boredom." But human beings, he said, also need the quiet and time to be contemplative as well as engaged.

Down the road, will the iPods and text messaging and computers create too much solitude for today's young people, Jones asks. "You have to wonder what's the impact. Does it diminish their connectedness with other human beings?"

Contact Marietta Homayonpour

at mhomayonpour@newstimes.com or

at (203) 731-3336.

pullout note: Newtown teen Brady Eggleston won't use her iPod while reading or writing because "it can be very distracting and I'll start typing in the lyrics."